There is nothing that pairs with New Year’s Eve as well as Champagne (or Prosecco, or Cava). Champagne is an excellent choice to celebrate one door closing and another door opening, but there are a lot of ways to step up your bubbly game – or celebrate with a unique cocktail that is perfect for the occasion. Below are a few of my favorites over the years. Enjoy – and Happy New Year!
Champagne Cocktail
1 sugar cube
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
Top with Champagne, Prosecco, or Spanish Cava
(Many add 1/3oz cognac – which is lovely)
Add the dashes to the sugar cube and drop intro a chilled champagne flute. Add cognac (if using), then gently pour the bubbly into the glass to top off. Serve.
The champagne cocktail dates to at least the early 1860’s with its inclusion in Jerry Thomas’ ‘Bon Vivant’s Companion’ seminal bartending book. Mark Twain even includes the drink in ‘Innocents Abroad’, published in 1869. It has since become the foundation for all manner of derivations – adding fruit, brandy or gin, or different bitters. A great idea for a holiday party (like NYE) is to create a champagne cocktail buffet. Place out different spirits, fruit, and bitters, and let people make their own. I know that’s what I am planning for New Year’s Eve.
New Year’s Sparkler
1oz raspberry vodka
1 1/2oz cranberry (or pomegranate) juice
Prosecco to top
3 fresh raspberries garnish
Place the raspberries into a chilled champagne flute and build the drink in the glass. Serve.
I had been searching for a drink to ring in the new year that I hadn’t made, and this fruit version of the Champagne Cocktail is a nice fit for those who like something a little sweeter and fruitier. A nice and bright New Year’s Eve drink. It has a nice berry component but not too sweet or cloying. The vodka adds heft and berry flavor, and the cranberry gives it a tart juice profile without sweetness of a syrupy component. A little less sophisticated – but the sweet spot (pun intended) between a dry champagne cocktail and a juicy, sweet vodka drink. Cheers, and here’s to a better 2023.
My Golden Dram
3/4oz 12 year single malt scotch
1 sugar cube
3-4 dashes Angostura bitters
Prosecco to top
Place the sugar cube on a folded paper towel across the top of a chilled champagne flute and dash the angostura until saturated (3 or four dashes). Drop the cube into the flute and add the scotch, then gently top off with the bubbly. Serve.
A sophisticated take on the classic champagne cocktail. The scotch takes the drink up a level adding a malty background to the bitters and champagne. Deep and warm, without being peaty. A true celebratory drink – but remember this is a glass of champagne with a slug of alcohol in it. Celebrate slowly.
The Lyndy Hop
1oz vodka
1oz Plymouth gin
3/4oz Cocci Americano
1/2 Dolin Blanc vermouth
1 1/2oz chilled Champagne
Lemon twist
Add everything to a mixing glass with ice except for the Champagne. Stir for 30 seconds and strain into a chilled coupe glass. Add the Champagne, express the lemon over the surface and add to the drink. Serve.
This brilliant little drink was created by Toby Maloney at The Violet Hour bar in Chicago. It is a riff on the famous Vesper Martini, but sweeter (wetter). Maloney is the Head Mixologist at The Violet Hour, receiving a James Beard Award for the Outstanding Bar Program in 2015. He has over 25 years’ experience behind the bar, including stints at the Pegu Club and Milk & Honey in New York City.
Champs-Elysees Cocktail
1 oz Cognac (some instead use Calvados)
1/2oz Green Chartreuse
1/2oz fresh lemon juice
1/2oz simple syrup
1 dash Angostura bitters
Lemon zest, for garnish
Add everything to a shaker and fill with ice and shake for 15 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and express the lemon peel over the surface of the drink. Add the peel garnish and serve.
This all-French drink is perfect for celebrating. Not everyone likes cognac, but in my opinion, this is a brilliant drink. The Green Chartreuse really tones down the cognac, and the lemon balances the sweet components. In addition, citrus seems to brighten the herbal components of the Chartreuse. All-in-all a great cocktail.
The Midnight Martini
3 1/2oz coffee infused vodka
3/4oz coffee liqueur
1/2oz cinnamon simple syrup
Lemon spiral garnish
Have trouble staying awake until midnight? This will help. Tasty, and the equivalent of a cup of coffee. Chill a martini or coupe glass with several ice cubes. Add vodka and liqueur to a mixing glass with ice. Stir for 20 to 25 seconds, and strain into the glass with the ice removed. Sip away and wake the hell up!
Lillet Champagne Cocktail
2oz Lillet
3 dashes grapefruit bitters
4oz champagne
This steps up the Champagne game a little and adds light citrus and herbal notes to the glass. A great variation is to swap out the Lillet with St. Germain and skip the bitters.
But if you celebrate a little too hard, you may need a little ‘Hair of the Dog on New Year’s Day.
The Suffering Bastard (for those of you who celebrated a little too heavily New Year’s Eve)
2oz cognac or brandy
2oz London dry gin
1/2oz Rose’s Lime cordial
4oz ginger beer
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
Mint for garnish
Add everything except for the ginger beer and garnish to a mixing glass with ice and stir for 30 seconds. Strain into a rocks glass (or Collins glass) with ice. Top with ginger beer and add mint leaves for garnish.
This drink (not to be confused with the Tiki drink of the same name) is one of the three Bastard series (Suffering Bastard, Dying Bastard, and the Dead Bastard) of drinks created by famed bartender Joe Scialom in 1942 (or 1940) at the Cairo Shepheard Hotel. Created as an escalating series of hangover cures, each new drink adds a spirit and reduces the ginger beer, with the Suffering Bastard being the least spirited. Of note, the drink specifically calls for Rose’s Lime Juice, not fresh lime, and originally called for Ginger Ale. However, in England at the time Ginger Ale referred to a much spicier beverage, more akin to today’s ginger beer.
Cheers!
Bill
AotCB-050
